The Lighthearted Wanderer

The second day of our spring break excursion began with the ritual known as Making Breakfast. Our hostel advertised "Free Pancakes" and upon following the signage, we discovered that Free Pancakes consisted of fighting for some burner space, pans, spatulas, the spray cans of pam, and the batter bucket. The burners were way crowded, and we only had 40 minutes before we had to check out. Thankfully we spotted some burners next to a nice looking red-head and I took over the cooking process. 2 or 3 pancakes later, I finally realized that my pan had a curved bottom and made cooking everything so much more difficult. But it worked out eventually, and the three of us had a giant breakfast of pancakes, instant oatmeal, toast and jam. After checking out we made our way to Union Square for shopping and strolling through the really expensive places, but we soon realized that most of them didn't open until 12noon anyway. So we made a couple pit stops to fill some time, H&M for fu...

I'm currently lying down on the top bunk in our hostel room--9:20am but feeling so wonderfully awake. Besides the slight annoyance that just about every move my body makes gets amplified 10x by the squeaking of the bed, our room in the hostel is actually quite nice. The showers were amazing, the hot water and pressure much better than those in new dorm, and it's in it's own little room where you can lock the door and not be worried about sketchy people hanging around the shower. But I'm skipping ahead...so yesterday morning the eager travellers, Sonia, Cherilyn, and myself, made our way to the Providence bus terminal, thanks very much to some friends that dropped us off. Basically conked out completely until getting to South Station, where we jumped off and headed to the Silver line--where the machine at my dollar coin and called it a quarter! Now thinking back, it probably was one of those new weird quarters, but thanks to Cherilyn, who talked to the worker, I got a fr...

Spring Break is finally here! It took long enough for sure...so we're leaving in about an hour and a half (5am), and even before the trip begins, it's been a whirlwind. Our outgoing flight is from Boston, at 8:50am...and so we bought bus tickets for 5:30am, arriving in Boston South Station at 6:35, plenty of time to make it to our flight. But no! The bus tickets were for the bus terminal that we can't walk to! Yikes! Thank goodness some friends are around and willing to drive us :) But besides that, I'm just going through the usual Packing Mode and trying to emulate my mom's awesome packing skills, in addition to cutting down the amount of stuff I bring as much as possible. An hour and a half til departure, and it still doesn't quite feel like vacation yet... Itinerary, mostly of sleeping places: Sat: PVD --> BOS, BOS --> SFO, hostel in San Fran Sun: Pleasanton w/ my family Mon: San Jose w/ a Brown friend's family Tues: Berkeley w/ high school friends ...

What is it about Karaoke that brings people together? There must be something about an empty mic, waiting for someone to come and sweep it off its feet, something about songs past and present mingling together in a songbook, something about saturday nights, happy tispys, and feeling the sudden need to express one's feelings through belting out a song. Last Saturday my friends and I celebrated a successful performance at Asian Arts Fest, an annual culture show put on by AASA (I see you Star!). I think I've been such a big fan of karaoke lately because it's kind of therapeutic to sing out thoughts and feelings that are gnawing at you through a popular pop song or ballad. I'll admit that I do that with both songs that actually have something to do with what I'm feeling, or sometimes just songs that remind me of a memory...also if I'm feeling up to it I always end up singing a little Whitney or Celine, not caring how I sound but having a good time doing it :) Some o...

This weekend's been one of youtube-ing movies instead of working on my final project proposals and my take-home midterm due Tuesday. I decided to wikipedia ABC Family original movies and I stumbled upon one with Patrick Dempsey (and his character is a Brown alum!!), Lucky 7: Sometimes it's nice to escape real-world and immerse yourself in the fiction-world of romantic comedies... Cutesy chick flick with pretty scenery, pretty people, a nice way to fall asleep on Saturday night-- In the movie we meet Amy, a high-intense Seattle lawyer who's life's been on the fast track that's almost magically followed a timeline that her dying mother created for her before she died when Amy was seven. One of the predictions was that Amy would marry boyfriend #7, and at the beginning of the movie Amy has just broken up with #5. Mr. Right Daniel has just popped into her life, but Amy can't get the timeline out of her head and devises a plan to find a temporary Boyfriend #6 and go ...

Blogging Fail again! Arg >_ Well anyway, this weekend I attended my first ECAASU conference (East Coast Asian American Student Union). So I hopped an Amtrak train out of Providence, set up a weekend campsite in the freshmen dorm known simply as "The Quad", and braved being plopped down with over 1200 Asian/Asian American students with no idea how it was going to turn out. Things I've learned about traveling: 1. Plan each outfit for a weekend trip. I know I love choices, but I always end up overpacking. 2. If staying in a dorm, DON'T FORGET SHOWER SHOES! And if staying with strangers, don't forget shampoo, soap, AND A TOWEL. I learned this the hard way. Thank goodness UPenn was on spring break because I basically made that bathroom my own personal changing room. 3. Pack a weather friendly coat that can be dressed up or dressed down and easily layered! Things I've learned about Asians (and people in general): 1. There are an unbelievable number of students in...